Mary Lambert Quotes

I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create - as a tortured artist. I've learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.

Yes, I would loved to have just sustained myself through my art, but less than one in a billion musicians gets that life. So rather than being like, 'I'm an exception!', like a moron, I thought I'd get a real job.

Bike lanes are the coolest. My favorite past time is flipping off cars from my bicycle. Just kidding - I'm more of a silent resentment kind of girl.

If I can sit down at my keyboard and have a melody that says something that I can't with words, that's a really beautiful thing.

Gay rights and body acceptance are two things I feel very passionately about.

When I came out, I said, 'I'm going to be a proud gay artist.' I'm not going to be Melissa Etheridge. But she's a goddess!

I'm a sensitive, sensitive person. Overly sensitive. Extremely emotional.

Being in Los Angeles is this brutal awakening, where I feel not good enough as soon as I walk into a room, and I'm wearing the wrong thing, or I don't have enough make up on. It's all about image.

I hope people learn the power of vulnerability through my songs. I think vulnerability can save the world. Empathy helps people connect with each other.

I'm not dieting anymore. I want to eat what my body is asking of me. Just listen to your body in general - it's all self-awareness.

I feel like if I couldn't write, I would explode.

I don't think of my songs as sad songs. I think of them as vulnerable and honest. I crack jokes in between songs, so people don't leave feeling too dark.

People are constantly not feeling, but numbing themselves, either through medication or playing on their phones. If you start feeling bad, it's like, 'Distract! Distract! Put on Storage Wars!' And I know because I'm guilty of it, too.

i cry when there is no end and i cry because there is an end and i cry because you love me so well and i cry because i gave my love to other people before you and i cry because i used to cry alone, because i wanted to die, and then i cry harder because your shoulder is so soft, i cry because the sunset is so beautiful on the connecticut river, i cry because i am scared i am losing my mind, i cry because i'm on meds, or because i forgot my meds, or i'm crying for the fact i'm crying because i forgot my meds and does this mean i am actually myself, and i'm crying because i am not actually myself, or i'm crying because maybe i am myself and that doesn't feel like enough

It's a really skewed part of our culture that happiness is the end-all be-all. The people that force themselves to be happy all the time often end up being the most broken.

Body love is more than acceptance of self or the acceptance of the body. Body love is about self-worth in general. It's more than our physical appearance.

Treat others as you wish to be treated. Don't just be nice, but be kind to other people. That can be so rewarding.

In my field, you can't really wear the same dress twice unless you want Isaac Mizrahi to scorn you on TV.

At this point, I have 10 pairs of cat earrings because fans bring them to me. The next song I write, I'm going to be like, 'I love Chanel.'

I think no matter how you think about your music, you're ultimately in the music 'business.' I think you have to be business-minded in some sense. And for me, the real goal ... is positive intention and social change through music. It doesn't mean that can't turn a profit.

I'm learning how to keep my identity and personal life sacred. It's a matter of knowing my limits. I don't have to give everything that's asked of me.

I would sing to my Beanie Babies, and I sort of created this alternate universe where I was famous, and there were thousands of people that I was singing to.

For me, writing is just processing.

I want to watch the fat lady win
I want her to stop apologizing for being fat
I wish I could say: Hey, perfect angel cutie pie:
You don't owe anyone shit.
Stop apologizing for who you are.
Go eat a fucking sandwich and throw your scale away
Work out if you want to, lay on the couch if you want to
No one else lives in your body
You are enough, as you are, today

I've always had a little bit of darkness, and I've always been someone who was grieving. I had kind of had a tumultuous upbringing living in an abusive home, so for me, writing has always been a point of catharsis.

I want to go to Italy and France; those are my two places. And I really want to go to Greece. I've seen so many pictures on Airbnb that make me think I should be living there. I could eat great salads and be on a boat.

I have gained so much more from my experiences of being open and loving humanity rather than being jaded and being closed-off.

I remember that morning vividly
my eyes crusted from crying
Staring across from you
your cheeks smudged with campfire ash.
We smiled weakly at each other,
and I told myself we were good.
I promised I would stop drinking so much.
You believed me.
I looked over the boat at my reflection in the water.
I looked kind of happy
for someone who was drowning.

It's taken me a long time to enjoy shopping. As a plus-size girl, you walk into a store, and it can sometimes be like a designer doesn't know you exist. It's become a fun treasure hunt.

You don't accomplish a lot by changing people's opinions by shoving facts down their throat. I think you change people's opinions by opening your heart up and showing the parallels between you and another person. That's how people's ideas shift.

I'm not saying everybody has a social responsibility of what art they create, but art should be open-ended. I just feel there's a lack of consciousness and understanding of impact and reach. Just maybe, for a second, just think of the effect you could have with a lyric.

Growing up, people are like, 'Mary, we'll see you at the Grammys.' You're like, 'I'll be at the Grammys.' Then, you're actually at the Grammys! That actually is happening; it's not just something people are saying because they like your music. It's real!

I think, for me as an artist, there are no boundaries. As long as I'm creating in a way that isn't trying to re-traumatize any wounds that I do have.

One of the best parts about my job is that I get to dress for red carpets and appearances, and I often forgo working with a stylist because fashion is half the fun of any event!

You are more than who you fuck

I know how I want to operate as an artist. And that is by having an honest, genuine dialogue about this kind of screwed up journey I've had that I'm so thankful for.

As soon as I check into a hotel, I get butt naked and I watch super trash TV like 'Storage Wars' and 'The Bachelor.'

I try to harmonize and sing every moment that I can.

I knew when I shot the 'She Keeps Me Warm' video that the comments were not going to be homophobic ... that they would be about fat-shaming. I'm a large girl making out with somebody. I knew just that sheer fact would set people off.

After a show over the summer, a girl came up to me who was a pastor at her church, which was not accepting of same-sex relationships. She said that 'Same Love' allowed her to come out regardless of the consequences.

My mom, grandma, great-grandma - we're all named Mary, and we all play piano and sing.

I wrote the chorus specifically for 'Same Love' as a narration of my story. I decided to release 'She Keeps Me Warm' as an extension of the chorus because I felt like there was more that needed to be said.

I was a really, really depressed kid.

The bottom line is: You are in control of your reactions to things and how you view things.

I look up to Tegan & Sara, obviously, Adele and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks. All these artists are strong in their convictions, and they haven't changed who they are for the music business.

I have a big thing with eye contact, because I think as soon as you make eye contact with somebody, you see them, and they become valued and worthy.

I think a lot of us have some form of body dysmorphia ... You're looking in the mirror, and you're kind of disassociated in some way. I think a good reminder is to actually, physically touch yourself. 'Ah, okay, this is what my arm feels like. It's not what I'm mutating in my head. I'm not some sort of scary monster.'

I was going to be a teacher. I was applying to graduate school when I got the call to do 'Same Love,' actually. I was gonna go to Boston University for my masters in teaching.

I came out when I was 17. I was in the church; I was crying every Sunday for about a year. I came to terms with the fact with this is who I was - I wasn't going to be able to be a different person. At 17, you feel like a freak already, and so to have that fire and brimstone against your attraction is just screwed up!

Weaved a different story in my head
Painted it like glitter in the swamp

I don't have all answers, but as far as viewing my body ... I'm in a place where I can look at my stretch marks and say, 'Oh, hey, stretch marks!' and I'm over it.

I'd want it to be really special to both of us, but I'm a huge fan of 'At Last' as a wedding song. But what's also really cool is songs that no one else would have at their wedding, like an obscure Radiohead song.

I'm one of the writers that would die if I didn't say what I needed to say. For me, it's a matter of survival to write.

Going from someone playing 15-people venues to performing at the Grammys, it was this giant leap and sort of showed me it was possible with what I wanted to do and the kind of music I wanted to write and artist I want to be to impact a lot of people.

Fat bodies are used comically. I respect Rebel Wilson so much, and Melissa McCarthy. I love them both. But so often, I feel like fat female bodies are used as props.

I think artists are scared to have same-gendered pronouns in their writing, and I don't think it's because they're scared to be out, because gay artists are visible, but they don't want to alienate an audience.

It is a little scary to go across the whole country, and basically the world, and be like, 'What's up? I'm gay, and you should let me get married everywhere.' I don't feel like I'm a spokesperson. I just sing what my experience is.

I was bartending when I recorded 'Same Love,' and when it was on the radio, too. I remember overhearing people talking about the song while I was making them drinks.

The thing I really love about my fans is the vulnerability and openness, the crying and the hugs. They are so kind.

Self-care is the number one solution to helping somebody else. If you are being good to yourself and your body and your psyche, that that serves other people better because you will grow strong enough to life someone else up.

Getting snail mail is one of my favorite indulgences, and I think receiving mail is actually a common joy.

After singing 'Same Love' across the nation, it's given me faith that I've underestimated the straight world.

There's this idea that when you make a certain amount of money that you should be staying at four-star hotels and taking town cars. And believe me, I will take a town car every day, but there are some things where it's like, 'Is this necessary? Is this important?'